Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1887-10-29

saved from the burning as Parson
Amory says" And Becky had con-
sented. How could she refuse to do
a service for such a true lover? So
slight a thing, too! She had often
traversed the same road since on foot,
on her daily rounds of toll or mercy.
Sam Eustis had married Lucy Amory
years ago, and was the foremost man
in the country today. Strange how
that friendly drive had interfered
with Miss Becky's prospects how
the simple fact ofcarrying Mrs. Eus-
it's needle-work should have deter
mined her fate and devoted her to a
life of hardship and the Old Ladies'
Home at the end! Talk of tri1es
Poor Miss Becky! She remembered
that once or twice the opportunity
had offered when she might have
made it up with Larry; but pride, or
a sort of fine reserve, had locked her
lips-Larry ought to know that she
was above silly firtations. Once,
when they met at Lucy Amory's
wedding, when they all went outinto
the orchard while the bride planted a
young tree and the guests looked for
~four-leaved clovers, she had found
herself-whether by accident or de-
sign she could not tell-on the grass
beside Larry +; their fingers met over
the same lucky clover, their eyes met
above it, and for an instant she had it
on her tongues end to confess about
the drive and its result, to put pride
in her pocket, but just then Nell
Amory called to Larry:
"Oh, a horrid spider Ion my arm,
Larry! Kill him, %quick-do! Oh
oh-oh! l shall die--I shall faint"
And that was the end Of it.
The old orchard, with its fragrant
ounce bushes, its gnarled apple trees;
its fOur-leaved clovers, was a thing of
the past a cotton mill roared and
Numbered there all day long, where
) the birds built and the trees blossom
ed thirty odd years ago. 1t no longer
blossomed except in Miss Becky's
memory. She had turned her
thoughts to raising plants when she
was left to her own resources, but one
: cruel winters night killed all her
) slips, and the capital was lacking by
which she might renew her stock.
| Since then she had gone out for daily
sewing, had watched with the sick.
had been in demand for a temporary
housekeeper when a tired matron
. wished an outing but latterly her
-. eyes no longer served her for fine
work, and sewing machines had beer
introduced; she was not so alert il
: the sick room as of yore; she moved
e more slowly, and her housekeeping
) talent was no longer in request; add
ed to this, the bank where her little
earnings had been growing, one day
I failed and left her high and dry
e Some of her friends had travelled tt
! pastures new, some had married
:. away, some had ignored or forgotten
her. AS for Larry Rogers, he hat
been away from Plymouth this many
u a year. Somebody had sent hin
abroad the year after Lucy Amory'
e marriage to develop his musical gen
+ ious. He had grown into a famou
d violinist, playing all over the coun
y try to crowded houses, before tn
e finest people in the land. 1t was
beautiful romance to Miss Becky t
d read in the Plymouth Record abou
0 our "gifted townsman," she seemed
q to hear the echo of his violin whel
q the wind swept through tn
e pine boughs she did not blame hin
II because she sat in the shadow, be
cause her life had been colorless. Sh
sang again the old tunes he hal
Z taught her, and made little sunshin
in her heart. All of happiness sh
u had ever known he had brought hel
Why should she complain? AM
" now she was going to the Old Ladies
Home.
at isn't exactly what / expecte,
n in my YOUTH" she said to the oil
X Doctors widow.
81 "No; but you'll have nice room
Is and a bright fire, and the neighbor
will drop i n to see you and make ]
q home-like. Now, there's old Mrs
q Gum. Nothing can persuade her t
u go to the home. She says its only
W genteel almshouse after all, and S
II she rubs along with what little sh
k can earn and what little the neigh
II bors have a mind to send in, and the
OF have to do it mighty gingerly toe
'e just as if they were asking a favor {
q